Chapter 53 Peers <TOC> Chapter 55 Punishment
Translator: SumTLMan
The Orissa territory was dotted with cotton fields that were not thriving, amidst the boundless wasteland. The white cotton flowers had bloomed, dotting amidst the green leaves.
The water level of the Mohanendi River was too low, causing all the ditches to dry up. The emaciated farmers carried heavy flat baskets, carrying the river water to the fields for irrigation. Some of the husbands had died in the dam conflict and the women had to come out to carry water.
These farmers had to walk countless trips each day to keep these small white cotton balls from withering due to lack of water. Even if they coughed up blood, they had to grit their teeth and persist.
A hovercraft came flying from the horizon.
The farmers’ faces immediately changed, and the hovercraft symbolized danger to them. The people on board were either marauders or security officers. Some strong young men ran to the ridge with rifles that were placed there. Women and children ran directly into the village.
The hovercraft flew past the village without stopping. Some farmers vaguely saw that there were three people on board.
“It’s the new security officer, but he looks like a poor ghost and he won’t last long.”
The farmers discussed. If the people on that hovercraft were plunderers, they wouldn’t have left so peacefully.
Newly appointed security officers usually spend money to hire hands from security contractors. Security officers who take office alone and then recruit security officers in the local area usually do not have a good outcome. Not to mention controlling the jurisdiction, even ensuring their own safety is difficult.
The security office in Orissa territory was located in the town of Orin, which was barely a town, with a population of about a thousand people. It was the commercial center of the entire Orissa territory and had a simple handicraft industry. Every ten-day month, the surrounding villagers would come to Orin to collect and buy some small things and repair tools.
At this time, Orin was brightly lit, with a red canopy at the entrance of the town. A row of Xingdu people with red headscarves gathered at the entrance of the town.
“It’s here! It’s here!”
Someone rode a horse and rushed over.
“Start playing!”
A somewhat fat bald Xingdu man in a tuxedo, sweating profusely from the scorching sun in the sky, signaled the musicians to start playing. Some of the musicians beat the magic drum, others plucked the Sarode lute, and the veil-clad dancing girls twisted their waists amidst the music full of Xingdu flavor, singing and dancing.
Before long, the hovercraft arrived at Orin town.
The middle-aged Xingdu man who was in charge saw Li Mu on the hovercraft and, although he already knew that the new security officer was a Xia person, he was still a little disappointed. The current Orissa jurisdiction does not need a weak Xia person.
He quickly concealed his mood, ran quickly to the front of the hovercraft.
“Welcome the new security officer to take office in Orissa jurisdiction, I am…I am Sandy, a candidate for the Pancaya Council.”
The Pancaya Council is a unique system of the Xingdu Federation. Each jurisdiction will elect a Pancaya Council, and the Council only needs to pay taxes to the governor, and the governor has the obligation to ensure the security within the jurisdiction. The Pancaya is usually composed of five senior tribe leaders, so it is also called the “Five Elder Assembly”, and the position is often hereditary. The “Five Elder Assembly” has administrative power, civil legislation, judicial power, and almost controls all aspects of village life.
The security officer’s arrival is almost inseparable from the Pancaya Council’s open and hidden struggles. But today’s Orissa jurisdiction is an exception. Tipofa controls the last security officer who killed the local congressmen, and the local Pancaya Council is unprecedentedly weak.
Sandy wiped the sweat on his forehead and took a bowl of barley wine from the woman on the side.
“Security officer, hard work, please…please drink.”
Li Mu looked at the turbid liquor.
“I won’t drink the wine for now, where are the other candidates?”
“They…they are busy with their affairs, so they let me come to represent them to welcome the security officer.”
The sweat on Sandy’s face could not help but burst out again. Two Xia beauties stood in front of him, but he dared not look sideways.
Li Mu looked at his bloated figure and guessed that he was the one who was pushed out by the real candidate to deal with his bad luck.
“Forget the wine, everyone go, you get on the hovercraft and go to the security agency with me.”
Sandy’s body stiffened and he had to climb the hovercraft with a stiff scalp.
The buildings in Orissa town are much better than the mud houses in the wilderness, and the proportion of brick houses is not low. The security agency is even better, directly poured from reinforced concrete, like a small fortress.
“What kind of industry does Councilman Sandy have?”
Li Mu stood in front of the security agency and asked.
Sandy’s fat body shook, and he didn’t know if he should answer.
“Don’t be afraid, I’m just asking.” Li Mu looked at Sandy and said, “I guess you should operate a brick factory.”
Sandy almost jumped up, he thought Li Mu had already cleared his wealth and was going to kill the pig on the day he took office.
“Your palms, arms have many burn marks, although you have washed your hands, but there is still clay used for burning bricks in the nail seams, and many particles of broken bricks are trapped in the cracks of your shoes. From these inferences, you have a brick factory, and it is not difficult to conclude that you have no more than three employees, my friend.”
Li Mu patted Sandy’s thick shoulder with force, so he wouldn’t be too afraid.
“My doubt is, although you have a small industry, it is completely impossible for you to be elected as a councilman, is someone forcing you to run?”
“No…no.”
Sandy shook his head desperately and denied it crazily.
“The Pancaya Council always has at least six candidates for each election, and five people are selected. I believe you have accompanied the election many times.”
Li Mu said:
“As long as you don’t run, they have ways to make your brick factory unable to run.”
Sandy first nodded, then shook his head frantically, his face red with anxiety.
“You can go now.”
He allowed the still somewhat confused Sandy to leave. Li Mu directly climbed over the wall into the security agency alone, thoroughly inspected it, then opened the door and parked the hovercraft in the courtyard.
“The Soul Cult is not decisive enough, if it were me, I would directly bury explosives in the security agency, and wait for people to arrive and detonate them.”
Li Mu spoke regretfully and rolled up his sleeves to clean up. The security agency, as it had been uninhabited for a long time, the courtyard were full of weeds and very dilapidated.
“You did not leave that fat pig, I think I can understand the situation in the Orissa jurisdiction through him.”
Shen Luoyan asked curiously.
“This kind of person has a small courage, his head is full of getting rich. He is afraid of me as a security officer, but more afraid of the Soul Cult and the wealthy who are truly elected with strength. He may be happy to see me fight with the Soul Cult, but he will never rashly make a bet and choose to align with me.”
Li Mu shook his head and spoke.
“Believe it or not, he will definitely report our conversation in detail to those people when he goes back. And the Orissa jurisdiction, I already know it like the back of my hand, I don’t need to go through him.”